SH: ‘Feminism’ can mean many things, of course. I use it most often in teaching and writing as a title for a body of theory that offers an account of how certain assumptions about gender have shaped culture in far-reaching ways; and which proposes the urgent need to resist these patriarchal assumptions and to reorder culture. I find this basic theoretical approach – and the associated call to action – simply convincing. And I find strands within it enormously helpful for thinking through various issues; so I accept and use feminist theory.

But as a caveat – it is a title I am wary of trying to appropriate. If someone claimed I was not adequately committed to believing in the full humanity of women (and men), or to living out that belief, I’d be worried and hurt. And would want to know what had led them to that belief to see if it was fair, in case I needed to reorder my life or thought in some way. But if someone wants to say that I’m not a ‘feminist’ – well – I work with feminist theology alongside Black theology. I could not call myself a ‘Black theologian’, however convinced I am by the arguments there. On a similar basis, if someone wanted to say that no-one without personal experience of patriarchal oppression can really be a ‘feminist’ I would understand and respect that, and accept that I cannot claim the term for myself.